A Fathers Advice to His Son, by Rudyard Kipling, inspires us to dream, keep our virtue, uphold our honesty and moral fabric…all great lessons that we should embrace as men and women throughout our journey. “If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise If you can dream – and not make dreams your master; If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,…

Are you living joyfully everyday? The art of living joyfully is created through our daily choices and actions. LivingSingleLivingWell is about the Art of Single Living, and specifically, joyful living. Our courage allows us to manifest optimism and confidence. This emboldens us to seek greatness. We recreate our lives each day allowing joyful living to be within our reach. Millions of people are learning, or relearning, how to live a healthy, happy and purposeful single-life. Being single today may be your choice; it may be a decision that was made for you. The reality is that you and I, and millions of others are learning how to be single, date, build new relationships and heal the past. We all work to communicate better, find peace, and create healthy, happy, purposeful lives. Each of us is on an individual journey toward understanding self, personal growth and the dynamics of interpersonal relationships. It is my sincere hope that LivingSingleLivingWell is a springboard for thought and reflection. LivingSingleLivingWell is an open, welcoming forum that may open the door to a deeper understanding of how we each choose to live an optimistic and happy single life. For at least today, you are single because you…

Fear of judgment creates doubt, insecurity and inaction Concern for how others view us, and fear of judgment is not an irrationally held emotion. We are social creatures; we live in the confines of a community that has long-standing values and standard of acceptability. Placing too much emphasis on judgment by others is paralyzing and costly. Fear of judgment is an overblown emotion that you elevated into an unwarranted status. At all cost, discard fear of judgment and let go of the limitations that this creates. It is easy for us to live in our minds in whip certain thoughts into a frenzy of emotions. We most often tend to over-inflate certain emotions when we allow them to take an unjustified place of importance in our mind. This usually happens during times of uncertainty when we place a high degree of importance on the outcome: the beginning or end of romantic relationships, before job interviews, and anytime we have a sense of insecurity or doubt and our path is not clear. Fear of judgment is limiting; it creates inaction, paralysis and negative emotions. Eliminate it without a second thought. No one understands your inner monologue, motivations, desire or end-goal. In…

Past Relationships Help Us To Grow If I am a sapling today, what will I be tomorrow or when I draw my last breath? What does “learning to grow in a relationship mean”? Do I grow from past relationships? Do I make meaningful strides to improve myself both during and after the relationship ends? Do I take lessons learned and apply them to my life to improve? Do I become more aware and create a better version of myself? I have always believed that in this life journey, we are in constant development and constant preparation. Life is a journey of personal growth regardless of who we choose to bring into our lives. In those moments between past relationships, we have the chance to reflect, discard unwanted baggage and embrace our full potential. Each relationship that you experience is relevant so we should always be learning to grow in a relationship. While not every relationship will last forever, each is an opportunity to learn, grow and improve. I do not mean to minimize the value of past relationships, even if they were significant, like a deep love or long-term marriage. For one reason or another, however, that relationship ended. Either…

Why are you calling your Ex! Stop The Bleeding And Start The Healing. If you are still thinking about calling your ex, first ask yourself if you are emotionally satisfied, your self-esteem is solid and you have read 3 Essentials to Create a Balanced Life. You and your ex broke up and you still have these wild over how it ended, should it have ended, and you never quite got all of your questions answered so the tape that plays in your head is on overdrive. The romantic idea that you want to be, or are going to be friends is a moonshot. Simply said, it is never going to happen. It is like physics and gravity, and you cannot fight the reality of that which you cannot change. Let’s discuss the 8 best reasons calling your ex is a bad idea. Many people talk about being friends after a break up, but be real. Unless there was no emotional investment by either party, it might be possible, as long as there was no intimacy involved prior to the breakup. If there was intimacy, then all bets are off. It is not going to happen so don’t waste each others…